


Three Seasons Through Three Years

by SScagnetti



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 22:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1566254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SScagnetti/pseuds/SScagnetti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three seasons from three years of the lives of Nagisa and Rei. Three big moments that define their lives together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Seasons Through Three Years

**ACT I**

**AUTUMN**

            The evening set in coldly on Iwatobi as the wind had blown hard for most of the day. It was about 7:30 on a night late into October and the twilight hour had already faded to reveal mostly dark and empty night skies. The golden and brown leaves of the trees up and down the sides of the deserted residential street rustled and swayed along with their branches as the wind kicked up in periodic gusts coming off of the nearby ocean. The street lights had come on a few hours before but by now they were in full power. Here and there in a consistent pattern were the inverted dull yellow cones of light that marked where they were. Though it wasn’t too late, the street was mostly empty save for two figures that sauntered slowly down one sidewalk. In the dark it was hard to make out the well-tailored suits they both had on, and it was all the much more difficult to detect the lively and garish colors that radiated off the shorter figure’s outfit.

            As the figures moved along, the taller of the two with his hands jammed tightly in his pockets, they mumbled in quiet conversation. The shorter one laughed and snickered often and seemed to abhor any silence. The other seemed to relish the pauses. As they wandered through beam after beam of the street lights, impatience seemed to overtake the both of them. The tall figure pulled one hand out of his pocket to gaze at his watch and scoffed before nervously adjusting his glasses.

            “I knew it!” he screamed out, “I knew we were going to be late! Late to our own club event! How embarrassing!” He shook his head in disbelief and upped the pace he walked at. The shorter boy next to him ran to keep up, waving his arms wildly.

            “We’ll be fine, Rei-chan! It’s only a couple minutes to the school now! You worry so much.” The short speaker had thick, golden blonde hair and large eyes. He smirked as he spoke, having the mischievous look of someone entertaining themselves by prodding a bear and waiting for the reaction.

            “I know you know it’s your fault Nagisa! You took so long to get dressed; I spent an hour in your living room waiting for you!” Rei’s face blushed red as he spoke. He was quick to rise in “anger” but even quicker to calm down. Nagisa could only chuckle to himself, clearly amused at the way the tall boy acted.

            “But I had to make sure everything fit just so. This dance is going to be an important event for us all. I want to look good for the benefit of everyone!” Rei was not exactly sure what Nagisa meant by the last statement but it caused him to blush nonetheless. It sounded as if there was a special person he usually tried to look good for. Rei quickly distracted himself by mulling over his “plan of attack” for the night, and fretted over the fact he was still uncomfortable with the whole idea of a dance.

            The Iwatobi Swim Club had been running well for about a year now. In fact they had just started their club’s second season less than a month ago. And it was the (mostly) collective idea of the club members that they should help sponsor the school’s yearly Harvest Moon Ball in order to drum up more interest for their organization. It was Rei who was less than keen on the idea, though Haru’s complete indifference was treated as about the same outlook on things. Rei was not the most social member of the swim club by any means and he had never been a big fan of dances. In fact, he had never even _been_ to a dance, let alone what here was essentially more of a formal.

            Luckily for him, he had his best friend Nagisa there to goad him along. Nagisa even was the one who suggested that the group, including their coach, faculty sponsor, and Gou -their most enthusiastic supporter, all go out together to find what they were going to wear for the event so that Rei would not feel so isolated and nervous. Makoto tried to remind Rei that they were really essentially hosts for the dance and he did not even have to participate if he did not want to, though this sentiment helped little. He still felt nervous about finding just the right outfit to look stylish and presentable in, as well as confident. If he at all dressed how he felt, he would be a total mess.

            Eventually he decided on the suit he wore now as he shuffled quickly along down the street: a simple black, Italian-cut suit with a white dress shirt and a grey pattern tie. It was formal but utilitarian, the most extravagant thing about it was the white pocket square Nagisa pushed for him to tuck into his breast pocket. Extravagance was the opposite word for how Rei ever dressed and definitely not how he was tonight. Not with what Nagisa was wearing.

            The blonde boy, unlike everyone else in the club, decided against “less is more.” For this dance Nagisa felt he needed to be remembered by all and give off a “positive vibe” for everyone to feel. After all, the students would associate what he wore and how he acted with the swim club! ButeEven Makoto, who supported what he ultimately insisted on wearing, was still not sure if he was sending the right message. After all what message does an entirely sky-blue tuxedo with white lining say about the club? That on its own was not so bad, but the abundance of ruffles on the dress shirt and the **massive** yellow peony (the flower he insisted on) which Nagisa put into his own breast pocket (again, the place he insisted on putting it) were sure to stand out. He also wore matching blue leather loafers and, thankfully, a simple matching white bow-tie. The entire outfit was slightly too large for the short boy, though this was only apparent on closer inspection. Rei had done many of these but noticed it on the fortieth look as they left his house for the journey to the school gym. Well past the point that the mal-fitting suit could be fixed.

            Rei was still deep into thought with how he would approach the whole “dancing” at the dance situation, when he noticed Nagisa was slowing next to him. He was walking half as fast as Rei, who now slowed his panicked near sprint, and also had become very quiet. The tall boy stopped ahead of a glowing street light and turned to look behind him. The blonde was slowly moving through the light, illuminating him and his neon-glow suit, with his hands folded behind his back and his head staring at the ground. Finally Nagisa stopped altogether, standing directly under the lamp. The harsh, artificial light cast odd shadows from and across his body.

            “Nagisa?” Rei asked, becoming concerned. “Nagisa, is everything okay?” The blonde looked up at him, a bright smile still on his face, visible beneath the shadow cast by his thick, curly hair.

            “Of course it is, Rei-chan! I just….I need to ask you something. And…I’m scared.” Nagisa blushed and looked back down at his feet. Rei was stunned. He had known Nagisa for a year now and over that time they had been close. He had been a lot of things but so far as Rei knew Nagisa had _never_ been scared. He swiveled further on his feet and turned all the way around to face Nagisa in the yellow glow of the street light. Everything had gotten quiet and the rustling of the leaves with the cold, fall breeze was all he could hear. Feeling fear himself, Rei took his hands out of his pockets and walked closer to Nagisa.

            “Scared? Of what? Nagisa what is wrong, are you sure you are okay? Do you feel well, did you get a chill out here?” Rei grasped for a deduction as to what Nagisa had meant. He weakly extended his arms out, not sure if he should feel the short boy’s forehead or perhaps give him a hug.

            Nagisa chuckled ahead of him and looked up at Rei with his big eyes. His was still smiling, though now he was blushing red enough that Rei could see it. Rei realized how cute he was in that moment, with his hair and his suit and his red face, and slowly he unconsciously joined in to turning pink in the face.

            “I’m great Rei-chan, better than great! I just need to say something that I don’t know how to say. I talk a lot but…I’m not that good with words.” Still concerned Rei shook his head and spoke.

            “That isn’t true Nagisa! You are a great speaker. And something is wrong. Please….please tell me what it is.” Rei felt a shiver ride up his body as the cold air around him seemed to thicken, and he put his hands back in his pockets nervously.

            “Well,” the blonde continued still gazing at Rei with his wide eyes, “I…wanted to ask you. I wanted to ask you…out.” He ended with an odd gulp; which due to its sound made Rei even more concerned.

            “Go out? Go out where?” Rei stepped closer to Nagisa and it was more than evident he did not understand what the boy meant.

            “Rei-channnn. Dang it, why do you have to make things so difficult? I want to go out. With you. On a date…a romantic date.” Rei’s knees locked and the color drained from his face. Nagisa looked deeper into Rei’s eyes with a quizzical look that began to melt into one of panic. The tall boy remained silent with his mouth slightly agape.

            In a sudden, Nagisa cussed at himself and turned away. He looked back towards his feet and planted his hands across his chest as if he could not breathe. He began to stammer, hoping he could fix things.

            “See Rei-chan I was hoping this dance could be sort of a…date between us and we could dance and hang out and then if we had fun m-maybe we could go on another, more real date. B-but I can see you didn’t want to and I should have said something earlier; I backed you into a corner. Just please forgive me, Rei-chan, you don’t even have to hang around me tonight if you don’t want to. I just…I hope you aren’t mad. You are my best friend I-I…I’m sorry.” Nagisa rambled at a nervous pace which put Rei to shame. Rei adjusted his glasses and slowly felt the life return to his body. Nagisa shuddered and Rei began to worry he might be crying. Finally he kicked his body into gear and willed himself to speak.

            “N-No! No wait Nagisa. No. No I..I’m not offended. Or upset. I am flattered. I am honored. I, uh, accept.”

            The pair got quiet and Rei wondered if Nagisa had heard him. The slight wind kicked up again and leaves rustled up and down the gutters of the street next to them. In the moment, Rei suddenly became very aware of the dull buzzing noise the streetlamp above them was emanating. He imagined it was the noise Nagisa was making.

            “Please, Nagisa You didn’t give me time. I am okay, it is good. I…I want to date you, I like you...too.”

            Finally the blonde spun slowly on his heels. He turned to meet Rei’s gaze once more, with eyes that were damp with the start of tears but calm now. He still was shaking some, and if Rei’s extremities had not glued themselves in place, he would have rushed forward to embrace Nagisa.

            “Really? I don’t want to coerce you, Rei. I just thought we kinda had something.”

            “No Nagisa, you didn’t coerce me. I was shocked is all! Because…because I wondered if it would be me or you. To ask. And I didn’t know how I would if you didn’t, well, feel the same. I wanted to be sure. I don’t think I could have ever taken a risk like you did. I’m not brave.”

            “Aww Rei-chan, you’re brave! I mean-“

            “No Nagisa. I _know_ I couldn’t have been so bold. But you are. And that’s why I like you…” Rei ran his eyes over the blonde’s eccentric suit, feeling it defined perfectly what he meant.

            Nagisa chuckled and blushed deeply, with Rei doing much the same though invisible to Nagisa in the darkness just outside the halo of the streetlamp. Silence fell again for a moment, before Nagisa closed the short gap between the two and gave Rei a big hug. The tall boy did not hesitate at all to return it and they stayed like that for a moment. The hug spoke out Nagisa’s reciprocation for the compliment and the intense happiness they both felt mutually in the moment.

            “I-I hope you don’t mind that I was bold again here. I just…you seemed like you needed a hug.” Nagisa giggled out his words into Rei’s shoulder.

            “No…no you would be right. I did need one.” Rei cracked a warm, sincere grin only visible to himself. He soon pulled away from the hug and glanced down at the blonde. Nagisa had his trademark sly smile on his face again and Rei knew they were back on comfortable ground.

            “Well if _I_ am the bold one, then what are you? Certainly not the smart one because now we are definitely late to the dance!” Rei scoffed at Nagisa’s playful jibes and took off walking again, one hand nervously “adjusting” his glasses.

            “Only because you are also the lazy one. Which by the way that will HAVE to change if we are to date. Because when I set a time, you need to be there or I will leave.” The tall boy stormed off down the street at a fast pace once more with the blonde one playfully in tow.

            “Sure you will, Rei-chan, sure you will. Leave me and my cute face all alone; you couldn’t bear to do that.” Nagisa chuckled as Rei scoffed again. The two boys broke into relaxed and relieved laughter as they continued on their walk.


End file.
